27th February, 2020
According to a recent report from Techboard, 2019 was Australia’s biggest startup funding year to date, far surpassing the 2018 figures and showcasing a very mature-looking startup funding market.
In its report into Australian startup funding amounts and events that took place late in 2019 calendar year, Techboard captured the remaining data for the decade, which showed significant increases overall in the Australian funding landscape.
While Techboard’s ‘major’ reports run on a financial year basis, its most recent report offers unique insight into how the data captured in each of the last two calendar years compares against one another.
The analysis showed that 2019 was a significantly bigger year than 2018 in almost every way.
From a funding event perspective, there were a total of 844 events accounted for throughout 2019, while only 724 were captured in the 2018 calendar year.
The increase in funding events led to a total of $7.3 billion of capital raised throughout 2019, a 76 percent increase on the $4.1 billion raised in 2018.
Looking into these statistics on a more granular level, there were some other notable trends that surfaced in this comparative analysis.
For starters, the analysis showed that the amount of private equity being invested into the Australian startup ecosystem had increased astronomically throughout 2019.
The 2018 calendar year saw a total of $1.6 billion of private equity investment raised across 314 events. In 2019, the number of such events creeped up to 321, but an unprecedented $2.7 billion was raised throughout.
This comparison illustrates the extent to which the Australia private equity investment appetite has grown over the last 12 months and shows promising signs for the Australian tech startup economy in the new decade.
READ: Australian VCs reach the big leagues as appetite for tech investment grows
Techboard’s recent report also highlighted a total of $267 million raised in 30 Initial Coin Offerings (ICOs) throughout 2018, while only $17 million was raised in 2 ICOs in the following year – clearly denoting an end to the Australian ICO fad.
According to the report, the technology sector that received the majority of this private investment was the fintech space.
In the December 2019 quarter report press release, Techboard’s CEO Peter van Bruchem said that the tremendous growth and maturity that has been seen in this report and throughout 2019 is taking place amongst both the companies themselves, as well as the investors and fund managers.
“What we are seeing is a maturing of Australian startup and tech companies and increasing confidence in their ability to impact overseas markets. At the same time Australian Investors and fund managers are maturing and startup and tech investment is establishing itself as a valid asset class.”
Techboard’s comparison of the two calendar years did however show some worrying signs for early stage startups, with the data showing local investment into the smaller and pre-revenue startups declining, making way for the collective interest in scaleup businesses with traction and customers.
READ: Techboard funding for startups shrinks, report shows
The report also showed worrying signs for the Queensland and Western Australia startup ecosystems, with the two states experiencing significant decreases in funding throughout 2019.